CBS Pulls Five More Old Shows From Vault, Throws Them Online (CBS)

Got a hankering to watch a prime-time soap opera online, but “Desperate Housewives” just doesn’t do it for you? Head over to CBS.com, which is now serving up episodes of “Beverly Hills 90210.”

CBS has added select seasons from five old shows to CBS.com and the “CBS Audience Network” which includes AOL (TWX), CNET, Joost, VideoEgg, Slide, RockYou and a couple hundred others. In addition to the saga of the Brandon and Brenda Walsh, you can also catch up on “The Love Boat”, “Twin Peaks”, “Family Ties”, and “Perry Mason”. CBS also added seasons to three series that they already had online: “MacGyver”, “The Twilight Zone”, and “Hawaii Five-O”.

This is a no-brainer. Sales of TV shows on DVDs are already declining, and hardcore fans are going to be the shows on disc, anyway. So this is just found money. If CBS is lucky, the shows may get a new following online — like Arrested Development and Speed Racer on Hulu.

Our complaint: Unlike Hulu, CBS.com doesn’t allow you to embed episodes, so we had to go to YouTube to find the Love Boat opening sequence. See you on the Lido Deck.